Two Beatles shows in a day is at least one too many.



I woke up around 6 AM and left the house around 7:30. The drive out to Victorville was uneventful. God is that a boring drive. Coming up the Cajon Pass I blew past an exit 12 years ago I took all the time; Pearblossom Highway (CA 138). Pearblossom parallels the base of the San Gabriel Mtns and I used to get to Edwards AFB for a few years during B-2 flight test. Anyway, I gratefully blew by that exit and ended up at Victor Valley College at about 9:30/9:45. The hall was open and the crew was there but no band yet. No problem, the sound guy knew I was coming. He let me set up right next to him in the back of the hall.



About 20 minutes later the guys all showed up; they'd rehearsed at Mark's house on the mountain and then came down to Roger's place in Hesperia that night. They all looked like shit and I later found out why.



They were soon getting the stuff set up and then after sound check we all hung out in the "green room" and ate a crappy catered lunch. I haven't spent any time with these guys as a group; only Joe and Kurtis, really. The rapport we all had was very very funny but definitely all about being guys. Once the women started showing up things cleaned up in a hurry. At one point some 9 year old kid was hanging around (his Dad was a sound tech). Mark made the comment that he couldn't imagine a less appropriate group of people for this kid to hang out with.



The afternoon show wasn't all that great; the room was maybe half full and the audience was polite but not super enthusiastic. Rock and roll is not an afternoon activity. I shot the whole thing and then we convened in the green room to discuss. I even was asked my opinion as an experienced musician and tech, so that was good.



We broke for dinner; Joe, Kurtis, Chris and I in Kurtis' van. I then found out why they were all exhausted and looked like shit; they'd been up to 2 AM playing music and goofing around and tried to sleep on couches, floors, etc. 40 year olds can't really do that, you know?



We discussed the set again. The show was in two halves; the first set started with "Magical Mystery Tour" which came off great but there was no intro or anything else. The second set started with Kurtis and Dave doing "Yesterday." It was a nice start but it was not effective because the house lights weren't down and the intermission music was still playing when they came out. I had to turn the music down because the sound guy was off somewhere God knows where. Also, the lights were too bright and not dynamic in any way. Finally, the second set was too long.



So, after dinner (Catherine joined us as she had driven up to see the evening show) we went back to the hall and Kurtis and Joe proceeded to re-arrange and edit the set list and they also conferred with the stage manager so she could actually, you know, manage the stage. They decided to come out wearing guitars to help cut down the plug in and go time. Also, our good friend Jack Daniels made an (unapproved by the hall) appearance. So, I was hopeful that things would go better the second time.



And... they did. The audience was better, the stage was better, the set was better and the performance for the most part was better. Mark forgot the second verse to "Let It Be" so he stopped the song until Joe reminded him and then off they went again. They were all very funny on stage and the audience was laughing and interacting with them a lot. They did a "meet and greet" with the audience after each show; this one was at least twice as long as the first.



I managed to record nearly everything this time and hopefully I'll be able to grab a few songs from the afternoon performance to fill in the entire set.



Everyone drove home that night; I got in around 12:30 AM and face planted into bed.